“PRO-CHILD” BILL IS ANTI-CATHOLIC

The “Every Child Deserves a Family Act” would deny federal funds to any adoption agency that “discriminates” against prospective adoptive or foster parents on the basis of sexual orientation. Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the bill today:

The proponents of the “Every Child Deserves a Family Act” manifestly do not believe that every child deserves a family: only those lucky enough to make it to term qualify. Indeed, of the 69 cosponsors of the bill, 96 percent are pro-abortion. In other words, they are deceitfully playing the “pro-child” card while disguising their real agenda, which is to stick it to the Catholic Church. Consider the following.

No religion has a greater network of adoptive and foster parent agencies than the Catholic Church. Like almost all other religions, the Catholic Church believes that marriage should be the reserve of a man and a woman, the only two people capable of creating a family. This bill, however, does not recognize the legitimacy of this ancient verity. Worse, it seeks to punish those who do not accept, as a matter of conscience, homosexuals as adoptive or foster parents.

Fully a third of the cosponsors are Catholic, though most have long broken with Catholic teachings on public policy issues. All but one of the cosponsors is a Democrat. The lone Republican, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, is not only in favor of homosexuals adopting children, she cosponsored the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, a bill signed by President Clinton to protect the integrity of this basic social institution.

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen switched from Catholic to Episcopalian a few years ago. But it is not her activism as a Christian that has won her awards—it is her commitment to Scientology that has drawn kudos. No matter, it is clear that her new affiliations coincide with her newly acquired liberal voting record (the scores she receives from liberal and conservative groups have virtually flip-flopped in recent years). In any event, she is now aligned with a bill that is decidedly anti-Catholic.